Stones make for difficult potato lifting
Stones make for difficult potato lifting
HARVESTING undamaged potatoes from the stony land is a tough challenge, well met by the farms Kverneland single-row machine bought second-hand three years ago.
"There are simply too many stones to consider de-stoning," says Mr McFerran.
First green-top lifts of 11ha (27 acres) of Navan, well liked by his chip shop outlets, gave an estimated 50t/ha (20t/acre). "That is quite good considering they went in a wee bit late. I am hoping for another 2t/acre from the rest. Prices are about 20% lower than last year despite area and yields in the province being down."
Sequential burning off with Reglone (diquat), cheaper than acid, helps achieve maximum returns.
"The problem with Navan is that it tends to go hollow if you leave it too long. That can lead to complaints. So it is always a fine balance between yield and quality. We can nearly always tell if there is going to be a problem, because hollow tubers look like grapefruit instead of being relatively flat. If need be we pick them out." *
Too many stones for separation, but Kverneland single-row harvester copes well, says Mr McFerran.